Nine years ago, as I walked into Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, I found the hall almost full, although the programme was half an hour away. Not surprising, for the lec-dem that day was by Dr. S.A.K. Durga, whose lectures always drew big crowds. Her lec-dem that day, organised by Rukmini Arts, was on Thodi raga. My memory takes a leap back across the years, when I hear that Durga is no more, and that Todi lec dem comes to my mind vividly. What follows is a gist of that lecture, and my experience listening to it.
Durga began by pointing out that Venkatamakhi calls Todi an ‘outhara’ raga. Venkatamakhi does not include Thodi in the 19 melas that he calls by the name ‘praakprasiddha melas.” But even 2000 years ago, Thodi existed in Tamil music. A latter day Sangam treatise refers to Thodi as ‘viLarippAlai.’ One does not find Thodi in Thevaram, but it is seen in Divya Prabandham as Mudirnda Kurinji. However a full fledged handling of Thodi is seen only in the Trinity period.
There are not many geethams in Thodi. Two are given in Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini, but these are not in vogue among singers, said Durga. She added that the notations for these geethams were not easily decipherable, and singing them without understanding the notations would detract from the aesthetic aspect of music.
Sambamurthy called Thodi a ‘naya’ ragam. Naya ragas are those that offer ample scope for alapana, niraval and swaraprasthara. Sambamurthy said Thodi was a sarvaswara gamaka varika rakti raga. He did not agree that Thodi was an outhara raga - that is one that came from the North.
Talking of samvaaditva (consonance), Durga said that Thodi was one of the most consonant ragas, or arguably the most consonant raga. She illustrated the samvaaditva of Thodi by singing the charanam of Tyagaraja’s ‘Ninnu vinaa sukhamu gaana’.
There were interesting digressions too in Durga’s lec-dem. Ariyakudi used to sing a madhyama kala phrase in Sindhubhairavi, which gave it a Hindustani flavour, and Durga demonstrated this. She gave a demo of how griha bhedam works in the set of five audava ragas - Mohanam, Madhyamavati, Hindolam, Suddha Saveri and Suddha Dhanyasi.
Thodi is sung often with shadja varja and panchama varja, which adds to its beauty. In ‘Era Napai’ varnam, we find panchama varja in the charana chittaswaram.
The Dikshitar family seems to have had a special affinity for Thodi, Durga observed. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s dhyana kriti in his Navarana set is in Thodi. A popular pallavi in the past was ‘Gaanalola Karunaala vaala.’ This is actually a part of a kirtana by Chinnaswamy Dikshitar. Baluswami Dikshitar’s chittaswarams for ‘Gajavadana,’ give the essence of Thodi. Ramaswamy Dikshitar composed a padam in Thodi.
Tygaraja has composed the maximum number of kritis in Thodi. An interesting speculation by Durga was about the use of the word ‘tambura’ in more than one Tyagaraja kriti in Thodi, ‘Koluvamaragatha,’ to cite just one instance. Durga said Thodi is full of microtones. While sruti suddham is of absolute and undeniable importance for all ragas, the lack of it when singing Thodi, mars a Kutcheri more than the lack of sruti suddham in any other raga. Perhaps it was to point this out, that Tyagaraja referred more than once to the tambura, in his Thodi kritis, she said. Todi is as inscrutable as God Himself, said Durga, which is why beginners are not taught difficult ragas like Thodi and Saveri.
There are no Todi compositions in Nauka Charitram, but ‘Vaareedhi Neeku’ is from Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam. There is a javali in Thodi by Dharmapuri Subbarayar. We were pleasantly surprised when Durga came up with the Tamil padam, ‘Yaar poi solluvaar,’ which this writer’s mother had heard Ariyakudi sing in many concerts in the fifties. In fact, it was popularised by Ariyakudi. Durga then sang snatches of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’s tillana ‘Dheem Dheem.’
Thodi in GNB’s style and Balamuralikrishna’s style is slightly different. They don’t shake the gandharam, but sing it as a plain note, said Durga. She concluded that no other raga brought out the wonder and beauty of Carnatic music the way Todi did.
This lec-dem is still fresh in my memory after nine years, which only goes to show what an outstanding communicator Durga was. On the many occasions I met her, she taught me a lot of things - from folk music to classical music. She never talked down to anyone who went to her to learn something.
When she came to our house some years ago, she was beside herself with excitement, as she went through our collection of gramophone records. She asked me to crank up our gramophone and she heard many of the Odeon label records of Ariyakudi in our collection. When she gave a lec-dem on Arunachala Kavi’s Rama Nataka kritis, she borrowed our recordings of Ariyakudi’s rendering of the kritis. She would often say apologetically, “I am afraid I don’t know much beside music!” forgetting that it was that kind of focus that gave her the depth of knowledge she had. Who, but Durga, would speak about her strength this way?! When I spoke to her a few days before her death, she told me she was planning a workshop on Harikambodi sometime in the end of November. Hers was truly a life dedicated to music.
A book and an award
Durga was the first Asian to have published a book on Ethnomusicology, and was the first recipient of the musicologist award from the Music Academy.
